The Mercedes-Benz SL550: What the critics say

last updated 10 January 2015

Los Angeles Times

With the all-new 2013 version of this iconic two-seater, Mercedes-Benz has created “one of the best road-trip cars that money can buy.” Its most noticeable new feature is also the model’s biggest drawback—the “bug-eyed face” that engineers created when they raised the grill and hood line to meet new crash requirements. But the new look doesn’t matter once you’ve fi red up the engine. This car’s turbo-charged 4.6- liter V-8 is smaller yet “significantly more powerful” than its 5.5-liter predecessor.

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The SL550 is also “more of a kick than ever to drive.” It handles better and feels more alive, “thanks partly to an impressive 270-pound loss in weight.” Mercedes-Benz accomplished this by constructing the new edition almost entirely out of aluminum. The car “isn’t as lively as BMW’s best,” but it now turns “hard corners with greater confidence” and feels “far more balanced.”

Car and Driver

Of course, being a luxury car, the SL550 is “all about the occupants.” The interior offers all the expected tech accoutrements plus “plenty of room to stretch out.” Once you start adding options, it’s easy to spend $120,000 or more, but “numbers be damned”: The SL550 “shines in delivering lavish refi nement.” Drive this car into any city in the world and you’ll feel like a star.